Marlies Open Thread

The now-surging Marlies finish up their eight-game road trip tonight in Hamilton before returning for the back half of the home and home against the Bulldogs tomorrow at the Ricoh (tickets). The Marlies finish up the weekend by hosting Abbotsford on Sunday (tickets).

The big news in Marlie land today is that of Matt Frattin’s return to the lineup after an off-season of rehab following knee surgery. Don’t expect immediate dividends, but Frattin made a mockery of AHL goaltenders in the Marlies Calder Cup run to the tune of 10 goals, his tenth being the play that ended his 2011-12 season. It’s a welcomed addition and a rare case of a player benefiting from this lockout situation – he’ll have time to get his game back in shape before someone else can take his spot on the Leafs.

It’s also a welcomed addition in the sense that the Marlies may soon lose their top goal scoring forward. Leo Komarov, scorer of four goals in his last three games, remains with the organization for now as the Leafs look into whether or not he can both head back to the KHL and return to Toronto to play in the NHL should the lockout end. If it checks out, Komarov will head back to Moscow Dynamo, where he’s played the last three seasons. It’s a loss for the Marlies, but from an individual development standpoint Komarov has proved his point in his brief stint in the AHL to start the season and is probably better off playing against KHL competition for now.

Ben Scrivens goes in net tonight, with Mark Owuya likely to take reigns tomorrow as Rynnas is banged up from practice.

Alec Brownscombe is the founder of MapleLeafsHotStove.com, where he has written daily about the Leafs since September of 2008. He was also the editor of the 2009-12 Maple Leafs Annuals. You can contact him at [email protected]